War of the Grand Alliance

The War of the Grand Alliance (27 September 1688-20 September 1697) was a war fought between the "League of Augsburg" (the United Provinces, Sweden, the Protestant principalities in Germany, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire) - later joined by England and Scotland - and France. The war saw the league, also known as the "Grand Alliance", recover Catalonia, parts of the Spanish Netherlands, Lorraine, and some Holy Roman cities, but France was militarily the victor of the inconclusive conflict.

In 1686, the enemies of King Louis XIV of France formed the "Grand Alliance" in opposition to the French king's expansionist plans. The alliance consisted of several major powers such as the Dutch Republic, Sweden, the Protestant principalities in Germany, Spain, and the Austrian Habsburg monarchy. In 1688, in anticipation of an Imperial invasion, King Louis sent a French arm yto lay waste the Palatinate of the Rhine. Louis also went to war with England after the Dutch Prince William of Orange was crowned "King William III of England" following the Glorious Revolution against his former ally, James II of England. In 1690, the French Navy triumphed at Beachy Head, but Louis was unable to prevent William's landing in Ireland to contend with James' fightback. William defeated James at the Battle of the Boyne that same year, becoming the Orangist king of England.

Louis was horrified by the indecisiveness of war; at Fleurus in 1690, the Duc de Luxembourg appeared what appeared to be a victory over Prince Waldeck's allied army, but the battle had no strategic gain. The main fighting of the war took place along France's border with the Spanish Netherlands, the Rhineland, Savoy, and Catalonia. By 1696, France was on the grip of an economic crisis, and England and the Dutch were also exhausted from the war. When Savoy defected from the alliance, the two sides decided to negotiate a peace. Under the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697, the war was ended, with Louis XIV retaining the whole of Alsace while returning Lorraine to the Germans and giving up all claims on the right bank of the Rhine. He also accepted William III as King of England, regained Acadia and Pondicherry, and returned Catalonia and the fortresses of Mons, Luxembourg, and Courtrai to the Spanish. Just four years later, the death of King Carlos II of Spain caused a succession dispute that led to the War of the Spanish Succession.